It came out of nowhere
by Is-there-somewhere-x
Summary: New Years Eve 2015. It would be the busiest night of the year for the staff at Holby ED. Will Max and Zoe's relationship be able to cope under all the stress, strain and emotion?
1. Chapter 1

It was the end of a long, exhausting shift for Dr Zoe Hanna. She was expecting the day off, which would have been great after being up most of the night after drinking a few too many glasses of wine with Max. It was to celebrate the end of the year, that was her excuse for it anyway.

As soon as she set foot in the hospital, she was rushed off her feet, as Connie Beauchamp had to take the day off. Typical, she thought, on possibly one of the busiest days of the year - New Years Eve, meaning the whole team would have extra work to do.

Firstly, Zoe and Rita had to deal with a difficult patient, a victim of an attack outside the hospital. It soon became clear that the patient did not want to be there at all. The patient, whose name was Brian, was wheeled in by the ambulance crew, who had managed to convince him to come in, but as soon as he was inside, tried to make a run for it. It happened on several occasions, both Rita and Zoe having to run after him to make sure he didn't escape, as his injuries needed to be looked at urgently.

As soon as she had finished treating Brian, Zoe headed back to the office. She wanted to take a break for just 5 minutes, but it was interrupted by Dr Knight who told her she was needed in resus. Already, she was regretting wearing her new heels to work, each step hurting more and more. She hoped that this one would be easier, but this was not the case, casualties being brought in from a terrible car crash. Both of the crash victims suffered cardiac arrests in a space of 20 minutes, with only one patient surviving.

She was kept busy, treating broken limbs, mending and fixing, cutting and stitching, just about everything. Not to mention the increasing amount of drink related injuries as the day went on. It was New Years' Eve, after all.


	2. Chapter 2

The end of Zoe's shift couldn't have come soon enough. As she entered the office she saw the mountain of paperwork on her desk. The pain coming from her feet was getting worse by the second, and all she wanted was to sit down and relax with a glass of wine... And Max.

Suddenly it hit her... She hadn't seen Max the whole day. He was definitely supposed to be working today. What was he playing at this time? She was beginning to get slightly nervous. But then again, she knew he would jump at the chance to get a day off work. Nevertheless she sent him a quick text, simply reading: Where have you been today?

1 hour later, Zoe had done as much paperwork as she could face for the day. Finally, she was able to leave. She picked up her phone, expecting to see a reply from Max, but there was nothing. This was very unusual, Max had his phone with him 24/7 and was very quick at replying. She was becoming more and more nervous by the minute. She decided to go home, and see if he was there. But before she could even stand up, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!"

Charlie appeared in front of the desk, an apprehensive look on his face. He took a deep breath before saying:

"I'm afraid I have some bad news,"

"What's happened, Charlie?" Zoe asked anxiously.

"It appears that Max has been involved in an accident," he explained, "I knew I had to tell you as you two are especially close."

Zoe felt her stomach drop, she knew it, there had to be something wrong. Slowly, she stood up, her body tense, although her hands were shaking uncontrollably. Tears filled her eyes, but she fought them away, she didn't want to make this seem like it was all about her.

"Where is he?" She whispered, barely able to get the words out.

"He's in one of the cubicles now." Charlie replied. He hadn't even finished his sentence before Zoe rushed past him, out of the office and down the corridor. The pain in her feet was getting more and more unbearable with every step, but she couldn't think about herself now. She was desperate to make sure Max was okay, see if there was anything she could do to help...


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi everyone. Thanks for all the reviews and favourites, I really appreciate them. Just to let you know I am trying to update as often as I can but sometimes it just isn't possible. Anyway, I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story so far. I couldn't resist putting a bit of Connie and Rita in this chapter, hope you don't mind. :) **

Zoe's heart was beating hard against her chest, her palms were sweating, she had never felt this nervous before. She was finding it extremely difficult to think straight, but she knew it was essential if she was going to be of any help to Max.

"Zoe, you look like you've seen a ghost!" Noel shouted at her from reception.

"It's Max, he's been in an accident, where is he? Do you know where he is?"

"Slow down, relax. He was sent over there." Noel pointed to the area behind Zoe, trying to calm her.

"Thank you," Zoe replied before running off to find him.

She pulled the curtain back so hard it almost came off the railing. Inside, Max was lying on the bed, covered in cuts and bruises, with an especially nasty looking wound on his left leg. Around him stood Connie, Rita, and Lofty.

What was Connie doing here?

Zoe had no time to think about Connie now, Max was her only concern.

"Continue applying pressure to the wound, we need to try and stop the bleeding. He has lost too much blood already, we can't afford for him to be losing any more,"

Connie's head turned when she heard the rattling of the curtains being opened.

"Dr Hanna, it isn't a good idea for you to be in here, I think you should wait outside," Connie told her, a stern expression set on her face.

Zoe wasn't listening, she was focused on Max lying there, his hair tousled, eyes closed. He looked so peaceful, but she knew better than to assume he was okay.

"Keep her out of here," Connie whispered to Rita.

Rita stepped in front of Zoe.

"Zoe... Listen to me... It's for the best, you know that?"

Zoe tried to push past but Rita tried to pull her aside. She tried to get past again, this time using a bit more force, but again Rita pulled her aside. Zoe wasn't thinking as she pushed Rita, so hard that she fell to the ground.

"Bloody hell," Rita muttered as she got off her feet.

"Dr. Hanna, I suggest you go and wait outside until we say otherwise!" Connie shouted, becoming more impatient by the second. Although, if Connie was being honest with herself, she wanted to do the same thing to Rita on a daily basis.

If Zoe was being sensible, she wouldn't do anything to provoke Connie as it would result in a much harder time later on, but nothing was going to stop her from seeing Max.

"No, I can't leave him," she whispered, as she moved past Rita, who didn't dare try and stop her at this point.

Her eyes filled with tears as she leaned over Max's body. She ran her fingers through his hair, and let the tears run down her face. It felt as if her whole world had stopped, and she didn't know what to do. She couldn't bear seeing him like this. He was usually so lively, joking around, he always had a smile on his face. She had to get away from it all. Again, she pulled at the curtain with a significant amount of force, and ran out of the ED.

Connie, Rita and Lofty exchanged glances. They didn't realize how much Zoe must care about Max as this behaviour really wasn't like her at all.


	4. Chapter 4

10 minutes later, Zoe was sat on one of the benches outside the ED, lighting a cigarette when she noticed Rita coming towards her.

"Rita, I'm so sorry about earlier. I don't know what happened, I was just so worried about him that I wasn't really thinking,"

Rita could tell Zoe was being sincere, and she didn't like to hold grudges anyway.

"Oh, don't worry, it's happened before, and trust me, I've seen much worse!" she replied, not wanting to make Zoe feel any worse about her actions.

Zoe laughed, and inhaled the smoke from her cigarette. She knew what they were doing to her body, but they always seemed to make her feel better, ease the pain of a difficult situation. Every time she tried giving them up, something would happen which would make her crave them once more.

She took a deep breath before asking the question she was desperate to know the answer to.

"How is he?"

Rita looked down at her feet before looking up at Zoe, who was staring intently at her, waiting for her reply.

"He... He's...still unconscious, which we are slightly concerned about. There is a nasty laceration on his lower leg, but other than that we think he is going to be alright,"

Zoe was able to breathe more easily now she knew how he was, although she was still worried sick about him.

What if he had an infection? What if it had cut into a vein, or an artery? What if he had a severe concussion? All these questions made her worry even more.

"How did it happen?"

Again, Zoe inhaled deeply, letting the smoke fill her lungs. She hoped it would help her feel better, because the answer to this question would not be easy for her to take in.

"Mrs Beauchamp and I agreed his injuries were probably as a result of some sort of crash. We are still waiting for him to regain consciousness so we can find out the exact cause of it."

That horrible feeling returned at the bottom of Zoe's stomach. She knew Max was a terrible driver, having experiencing a few of his many near misses herself, but the thought of a car crash shocked her. Where was he going?

She felt a sudden drop of rain on the back of her hand.

"Come on, let's get back inside. If he's conscious, we might allow you to see him," Rita said.

With that, Zoe got up and followed Rita back into the ED.

Zoe felt as if her lungs were about to burst. She quickly overtook Rita and made her way to Max's side. She gasped as she saw that his eyes were open.

"Zoe?" Max said. His eyes lit up at the sight of her. Zoe smiled and took a hold of his hand. They were cold, but she didn't mind, all she wanted was to hold him, and be there for him.

"Max... What happened?"

"I don't really remember to be honest. I was driving and I took my eyes off the road for a second, and suddenly the car was knocked off the road," he explained vaguely.

Zoe felt the tears come back again, she hated hearing this. She felt guilty, she should have been with him... If she had been with him none of this would have happened. She had always felt it was her duty to protect Max, after all he was younger than her, and she would always feel responsible when something bad happened to him.

"What were you doing out at this time? I thought you were supposed to be here," Zoe had to know what he had been doing, and what she could have done to stop it.

"I- I was going shopping..."

He stumbled over his words, making Zoe think this wasn't the exact reason he was out, and even if it was, what did he have to buy that was so important he skipped work to get it?

She just wanted to know the truth, and she had a feeling that this wasn't it.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone. Apologies for not updating earlier, school got in the way and I kept changing everything. I have decided to keep the story headed in the direction it was going in originally. **

**This is a short chapter but you could say it's still quite important! Thank you for the reviews, I think some of you guessed what's going to happen. Hope you enjoy. X **

**Max was telling the truth in fact, he had been shopping that afternoon, but he couldn't tell Zoe what he was buying because he needed to keep this secret. He had been waiting for so long to do this, and he finally decided it was going to happen now or never. He was going to ask Zoe to marry him. However, he couldn't do it just yet as the pain in his leg was still there. He had to find the right time. **

**Rita came in a few minutes later to tell him he would need stitches to mend the wound in his leg. Max wasn't very happy but Zoe and Rita both assured him he wouldn't feel a thing. **

**Half an hour later, it was all done. The doctors told Max everything was looking okay, although he would need to stay in hospital for another few hours to be observed, but if he was alright then after that he was free to go. Zoe and Max both took a sigh of relief. **

**"Fancy going out for a drink tonight?" Max asked hopefully. **

**"Max, you've been in a crash only a few hours ago and you're already thinking about going out tonight!" Zoe exclaimed, although she wasn't too surprised. It was Max she was talking to.**

**"Oh come on Zoe, it's New Year! Pleeeease?" Max pleaded desperately.**

**"Babe, you know the puppy dog eyes don't work on me. You need to rest, not be out partying all night!" **

**Zoe did feel a bit guilty about saying no, but she knew it was probably for the best. Max could be a bit reckless sometimes, especially when he was drunk, and she didn't want to repeat the events of today. **

**Great, Max thought, that's my plan ruined! How was he going to propose now? He wanted to do it in front of as many people as possible, but he still wanted the moment to be special. Luckily, he had an another idea.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello. Thank you for the lovely reviews, they are great. Apologies once again about the wait, school got in the way once again :( **

**This will be the last chapter of this story, but I am open to the option of doing a follow up. Got a bit emotional writing this because of how much I want it to happen. **

**Enjoy :)) x **

Just as the doctors had promised, a few hours later Max was free to go. He and Zoe were both relieved at this news. All Zoe wanted to do was go back home and sleep. It had been a tough day and she was exhausted, but she had a feeling Max had other ideas.

Zoe nipped back to the office to get her bag, only to find a messily wrapped parcel on her desk. Must be from Max, she thought, with a smirk. She went over to pick up the note that was beside it. It read:

'To my Zoe,

I hope you like this present, I love you so much and thank you for everything today. Meet me at reception, your other present is waiting down there.

Max 3'

By the time she had finished reading the note, Zoe had a huge smile on her face. Max was always thinking of her, even when he really should have been thinking only of himself.

She was curious to see what Max had bought her. She tore the paper away, inside was a rectangular box containing a beautiful silver-coloured necklace.

Zoe recognised it as the one she had told Max she really loved when they had been shopping last week. She immediately put it round her neck, threw the wrapping paper in the bin before making her way to reception.

Zoe jumped out of her skin as Rita came up behind her and told her to close her eyes, before reaching over her head and covering her eyes anyway.

"Okay..." Zoe said nervously. What was this all about?!

Rita then guided Zoe into reception where Max was standing with a small black box in his hand. Most of the ED staff were gathered around, wondering what Max was doing. Rita turned Zoe around so she was facing the other way.

"Alright, you can open your eyes now!" Rita called from behind her.

Zoe opened her eyes. She realised she was facing the wrong way, so turned around just as everyone else gasped. Max was down on one knee, the box open in his hand, revealing a beautiful ring inside. The words 'Will you marry me?' were formed in rose petals on the ground in front of him. This was the exact spot where, just under a year ago, they shared the kiss that revealed their relationship to their colleagues.

"Zoe Hanna, I love you more than anything else in the whole world. Everything about you is perfect. You make me happy, and I know you are everything I will ever need. Please, do me the honour of becoming my wife?"

By now, there was not a dry eye in the building. Even Connie had come out of her office to see what all the fuss was about.

"Oh Max, of course I will," Zoe said, tears streaming down her face.

Max's face lit up. He stood up, slipping the ring on to Zoe's finger. It fitted her perfectly. They both smiled before Max pulled her in and kissed her passionately.

"I love you so much," Zoe whispered to him.

"I know!" Max said with a cheeky grin.

Zoe laughed as she kissed him again, this time for longer. She couldn't believe it, she was going to spend the rest of her life with this man.

Max couldn't stop smiling. Everything had gone just the way he wanted it to.

"Now can we go out and celebrate?" He asked hopefully.

"If you insist..." Zoe replied.

"Come on everyone!" Max shouted, "This is going to be a night to remember!"


End file.
